Bobby Bowden's Grandson, 1 Other Dies in Winter Haven Crash

Passenger pulled alive from submerged vehicle

Published: Thursday, December 26, 2013 at 12:06 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 27, 2013 at 10:08 a.m.

WINTER HAVEN | A Boca Raton man is alive after being trapped for hours Thursday inside a vehicle partially submerged in a small ditch on Country Club Road in Winter Haven.

Two other men, including the grandson of former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, died in the crash.

Robert Lewis Edwards, 22, was in the back seat of a Mitsubishi that came to rest in the ditch upside down early Thursday morning. Only a portion of the bottom of the car was sticking out of the water. (Update: Edwards is now out of the hospital and home resting, according to the person answering the door at his home at 15 Lake Hamilton Circle.)

Rafael Fernandes De Aguiar Valim, 25, of 112 Campbell Drive in Winter Haven was the driver, reports said, and the vehicle was registered to him.

The deceased front-seat passenger is 23-year-old Taylor Jeffrey Bowden of 337 Towhee Road in Winter Haven. He is the son of Jeff Bowden and Luann Corby.

“My entire family and I are mourning the loss of our son, Taylor 'T.J.' Bowden,” Jeff Bowden said in a statement emailed Thursday night. “I can't express the grief I feel right now. Please keep us in your prayers.”

In a statement released Thursday night, Bobby Bowden said, “Our whole family had just celebrated Christmas together in Panama City, as well as celebrated T.J.'s graduation from Florida State just three weeks ago. We will cherish those last memories together with T.J. forever.”

The Sheriff's Office said the crash occurred after the three men had left Indigo's, a bar on U.S. 17 in Winter Haven and were on their way to a friend's home.

Deputies were on the scene for almost four hours Thursday morning when members of a dive team removing what they thought was the only person inside heard what sounded like grunting, deputies said.

He was taken to Winter Haven Hospital where he was treated for hypothermia and other injuries. His condition was not immediately available.

Bowden's body was later found inside when deputies were removing the car from the water just after 1 p.m. Deputies said Edwards was submerged in the water up to his neck but had a small air pocket. The front of the car was completely submerged.

The car was spotted when a Florida Refuse garbage collector was picking up trash near a broken fence on Country Club Road about 7:45 a.m.

Deputies say Fernandes De Aguiar Valim lost control of the vehicle while traveling north on Country Club Road toward West Lake Hamilton Drive.

Skid marks show the vehicle veering left, through the southbound lane, smashing through a wooden fence and falling into the small ditch that is part of a small lake.

The four-door car came to rest in about five feet of water.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said it took so long for Edwards to be rescued because deputies thought only one person was inside the car, already deceased.

Murky water obstructed the view inside the car and no one responded when deputies banged on the car, trying to get the attention of anyone inside.

“You have to look out for the safety of those who are going in to retrieve the person,” Judd said. “When from all indicators the person's deceased, at that point in the time, the primary influence is to make sure that your dive team members stay safe, that the car is stable and that it does not take another tip or roll off the edge in the pond and roll over on them.”

Judd said Edwards was “obviously” unconscious because he did not respond for hours, even as divers made multiple dives before finally hearing him four hours after initially responding to the scene.

It was unclear whether the three men were wearing seat belts. Judd said alcohol is believed to be a contributing factor, but he would not say definitively, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Sheriff's Office said preliminary interviews with the victims' friends and family indicate that the three men were at Indigo's bar on U.S. 17 in Winter Haven on Wednesday evening and the crash occurred about 2 a.m. Thursday after they left Indigo's and while they were on their way to a friend's house in the area of where the crash occurred.

Taylor Bowden was in Winter Haven visiting his mother, Corby, for the holidays, family friends at Corby's house Thursday night said.

A family friend, James Faubert, said, “He hadn't made up his mind to get his master's or get out in the working wold,” Faubert said.

Faubert said Taylor Bowden was an outgoing kid who “loved Florida State football” and looked forward to going to the BCS National Championship.

Taylor Bowden's father, Jeff Bowden, is a former Florida State coach under Bobby Bowden. Jeff Bowden is now an assistant coach at the University of Akron, where brother Terry Bowden has been the head coach for two years.

Bobby Bowden has lost a grandson in a car accident before. Bowden Madden, 15, was killed in 2004 in a three-vehicle accident on Interstate 10 in Gadsden County.

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